There are currently seven Iroquoian
languages spoken, all of which are found in the U.S.A., and all but Cherokee
in Canada. As can be seen from the population table, all the languages
except Cherokee and Mohawk are in imminant danger of extinction, and all
languages are spoken by less than 10% of their respective nation's
population. Despite these alarming figures, all seven nations support
language programs both for adults and children, and there is optimism for the
future. Furthermore, each of these languages is relatively well
documented linguistically, and there is a growing number of educational resources. The
“Six Nations” languages (coloured
yellow on the population chart) are often grouped together linguistically
(as Northern Iroquoian) and politically.

The Six Nations langauges are also similar in that they all use Roman
orthography, with certain diacritics (accents) and symbols added to
represent sounds not available in the 26 letter Latin alphabet. To see which
symbols each language uses, click on “Iroquoian Keyboards” in the box to the
right. Cherokee is unique among North American Native languages because of its
orthography, a syllabary invented in the historical era by (Sequoyah).

Each of the Six Nations languages except for Mohawk
require alphabetic symbols which are not available in most fonts, and which
do not occur as distinct glyphs within Unicode. So to type and view these languages on the web, you
should download a languagegeek font.

Download keyboards for typing in
Iroquoian languages. View and print keyboard maps for quick reference. There is also an Iroquoianist keyboard for use by linguists. Cherokee
users can get their keyboard here.

There are a number of extinct Iroquoian languages, including: Huron-Wyandot*, Petun, St-Lawrence Iroquois, Neutral, Wenro, Erie, Susquehannock, Nottoway, and Meherrin. There are no keyboards for these. If you use any of these languages and require a keyboard, please email me with details.